Happy Holidays! As I write this, Xenogears Creid is merrily playing in
the background, so I'm in a festive mood. So festive, I was tempted to write every other word in Green
and Red. However, upon further review, I have decided that is a bad idea.

Some of you are probably wondering why I'm writing a column on Christmas instead of opening presents/playing with
gifts. Well, the answer is quite simple, my wife is at work and we haven't opened gifts yet. Sure, when I
was 12 I would have happily got up at 4:30am to open presents but now, well, I'm a bit older. And I know
a lot of what I'm getting (my wife was afraid I wouldn't like a purple GameCube, and that was all they had
left, so she called and asked if it was okay). Speaking of games, as of Saturday, the local Wal-Mart still
had 20 or so copies of Final Fantasy X on the shelf, and the EB at Oxmoor Center still had Xbox systems.

Finally, those of you who read my previous column will remember my saying I was going to the Carribean in 4
months. We leave Saturday. I can't wait, its going to be in the low 30's F (-1 to 1 C) and 80F where I'm going.
Whee! Oh, CDs changed, now Chrono Cross is playing, I guess I'll go back to sleep now.

Do you think that Square again will be the leader of rpg on the Playstation 2
like they did on the Snes and the playstation or is it time that another
company will take the role over by Square?

Whatever
Squall

Martin:
Well, I personally would like to think that Square has learned from their mistakes and are on the road
back to RPG greatness. I would also like to see Enix at the top of the stack. However, I don't think it
would be good for one company to solely dominate the market (something I don't think could ever truly happen).
I also think that it's popular to trash Square at the moment, just like its popular to trash Sony
and just like it was popular in the early 90's to trash Nintendo. The problem is, when a company produces
such good quality for so long, there begins to be backlash. Humans, by nature, are chaotic creatures, and
get some sort of sadistic glee out of seeing others fail...Oh, this isn't a philosphy class, so I'll shut
up now.

Castles of Hype

*looks around*

hopefully i got the subject of this Q&A session right here...but! A game
reputed to rock that rocked me had to be Castlevania : Symphony of the Night.
My friend acquired and displayed it to me. I played it for three hours on my
first sitting. I sat there killing those giant golden skeletons at the bottom
of the Coliseum for an hour until I found a Ring of Varda...saved my
game...and left. Later that day I was to discover that my save had been
erased. I damn near cried.

But, beyond that...I've noticed that most games lately that are supposed to be
"good" kinda "suck". Take FFX for example. Sure it's good, but not up to the
hype. Remember the days when FFVI was released in America? There were no
lines, no hype, just a good game. Of course, everynow and then a hyped game is
actually good. Take "Max Payne" for example. That game is the epitomy of
sickness, but it was pretty hyped. Oh well, let's hope this downturn in game
quality lately fades away enh?

-hentaioverfiend

Martin:
Ah, Castlevania. The first video game my sister ever really liked. (Gimme the controller! Mommy, he took
the controller away from me! She won't let me play! That's it! Both of you, to your rooms!) I asked for
SotN for Christmas at least 2x, for 3 birthdays, and finally just went and bought it myself. Great game.

The problem with Hype is that too many people believe it. Take The Spirits Within. Good movie, great storyline,
but too many reviewers bought into the idea that the animation would be perfect. There is no such thing.
Speaking of reviewers of The Spirits Within, I know of several reviewers whose reviews clearly demonstrate
that they DID NOT see the movie. Disgusting. BTW, Final Fantasy VI was the first Final Fantasy to have a
Television Commercial in the US. Didn't see it? Neither did I. And for the record, Final Fantasy VI is were
the downfall of Final Fantasy began. Long live Final Fantasy IV!

Santa Mog!

Greetings Athena's Shield
I wonder what traditions you have this time of year? What gifts are you
hoping for too?
Imperial Mog

I was wondering what you could tell me about Shadow Hearts. I read a review
of it over at The GIA, and they praised certain parts of it, but totally
smashed other parts of it, making it a confusing read. I think it looks
pretty cool and with the money left over from Christmas shopping, I plan to
buy it if I hear enough decent things about it. I haven't ventured outside
the realm of Squaresoft very much either, so I'm excited yet terrified to try
it. Overall though, it looks like a mighty cool game. Good music too, as you
know how much I LOVE Yasunori Mitsuda, just like EVERYBODY ELSE. ;-) Okay,
I'm going to go finish wrapping gifts now.

Regards,
Chad

Martin:
Well, I can't tell you much about Shadow Hearts from Personal Experience. I've had my copy for about a week
now, but haven't had a chance to start on it. From what our reviewer has told me though, in parts its a rather
difficult game. Which is good, because I'm getting tired of RPGs designed for 8 year olds. Especially on
non-Nintendo systems.

What I can tell you about Shadow Hearts is that its dark ;) And there's a quote from RPGamer on the back
of the box. I personally think its going to be a good game, and PSM gave it 9/10. Of course, they gave Final
Fantasy X 10/10, and as we all know, there is no such thing as perfect. Our review should be up soon, but
since Anna's not up yet, I can't ask her what the status of it is.

The Last Gasp:

Well, short column today, but that should be expected on Christmas. Speaking of Christmas:

chiapet "Add some Red Food Coloring to Make Me Festive" @rpgamer.com
Yes, I was tempted to say, "Except Me" after everyone of those "perfect"s.